A geospatial mapping firm needs to migrate its legacy processing infrastructure to Google … — Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect

A geospatial mapping firm needs to migrate its legacy processing infrastructure to Google Cloud within a strict 30-day window. The workload consists of $1.2\text{ PB}$ of static, high-resolution satellite raster imagery stored on local network-attached storage (NAS) and an active $2\text{ TB}$ transactional MySQL database supporting customer mapping requests. The firm has a dedicated $200\text{ Mbps}$ network connection allocated for cloud transfer tasks. The cutover plan requires minimal database downtime of less than 15 minutes while ensuring all static and transactional data is fully migrated to Google Cloud before the 30-day deadline. Which data transfer and migration strategy should the Cloud Architect recommend?

Request Transfer Appliance to import the $1.2\text{ PB}$ static raster dataset, and deploy Database Migration Service (DMS) with continuous replication (CDC) over a Cloud VPN connection for the $2\text{ TB}$ MySQL database.Answer
B
Configure Storage Transfer Service to upload the $1.2\text{ PB}$ static raster dataset over the $200\text{ Mbps}$ connection, while performing daily database dump exports to Cloud Storage.
C
Migrate the $2\text{ TB}$ MySQL database to Cloud Spanner using continuous SQL dumps, while transferring the $1.2\text{ PB}$ raster imagery over a high-availability Cloud VPN connection.
D
Provision a 1 Gbps HA VPN tunnel to stream both the $1.2\text{ PB}$ raster imagery and database transactions directly into Cloud Storage within the 30-day migration window.

Answer

Request Transfer Appliance to import the static raster dataset physically, and use Database Migration Service (DMS) with continuous CDC over Cloud VPN for the MySQL database.

The correct strategy combines offline physical migration via Transfer Appliance for large petabyte-scale static data with Database Migration Service (DMS) continuous CDC replication for active transactional databases. Transfer Appliance circumvents network bottlenecks for

1.2\text{ PB}

of data, while DMS ensures live database sync and minimal cutover downtime.

Step-by-Step Solution

Calculate network throughput limitations for the

1.2\text{ PB}

static dataset.

200\text{ Mbps}

, transferring

1.2\text{ PB}

(

9.6 \times 10^{15}\text{ bits}

) takes

\approx 555\text{ days}

, exceeding the 30-day constraint.

Determines that offline physical migration via Transfer Appliance is required for petabyte-scale data.

Evaluate database migration requirements for

2\text{ TB}

transactional database.

Initial sync of

2\text{ TB}

over

200\text{ Mbps}

takes

\approx 22\text{ hours}

, followed by continuous CDC replication over Cloud VPN.

Allows ongoing data sync while the main application remains online.

Establish cutover procedure.

Stop application writes, allow final CDC lag to drain, promote Cloud SQL instance, and update connection endpoints within 15 minutes.

Meets the requirement of under 15 minutes cutover downtime.

Key Concept

Selecting offline vs. online data transfer mechanisms based on dataset size and network bandwidth, combined with continuous database CDC for minimal downtime.

Question

Answer

Step-by-Step Solution

Key Concept

Common Mistakes

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